Source: Epilepsia  |  Posted 9 years ago

Gabapentin does not negatively affect sleep the way older antiepileptic drugs do although it may increase the amount of time patients are in slow-wave sleep.

Researchers from the departments of neurology and epidemiology and biostatistics, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, led by N. Foldvary-Schaefer, investigated the effect of gabapentin on sleep. They recruited 10 healthy adults and 9 controls for the study.

The patients underwent polysomnography and completed sleep questionnaires at baseline. Afterward, the treated group took gabapentin titrated up to 1,800 mg daily, and all participants underwent the same investigations a second time.

Nine of the 10 treated patients achieved the target dose of 1,800 mg of gabapentin daily. The tenth patient was tested at 1,500 mg because of dizziness experienced with the higher dose.

Patients taking gabapentin had an increase in the time they were in slow-wave sleep compared with baseline. However, they experienced no changes in Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores or in polygraphic variables with gabapentin. The investigators did notice a small reduction in arousal, awakening and stage shifts in gabapentin-treated patients, however.

According to the authors, gabapentin is less disruptive to sleep than older antiepileptic medications. This may explain why gabapentin is helpful for the treatment of disorders associated with sleep disruption.